Join SEES and the University of Iowa Center for Advancement at Hancher Auditorium (141 Park Road, Iowa City) on April 18, 2026, for a day celebrating Hawkeye alumni!

Undergraduate student Nina Osborne, a geographical and sustainability science and environmental policy and planning major in the School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability, has been named a 2026 Goldwater Scholar, one of the nation’s most prestigious undergraduate awards for research in STEM fields. Her research in Assistant Professor Susan Meerdink’s lab focuses on how ecosystems, including Midwestern forests, respond to climate change using remote sensing techniques, helping scientists monitor environmental change at large scales.

Researchers from the School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability (SEES) contributed to the discovery of a new prehistoric crocodile species, Crocodylus lucivenator, that lived alongside early human ancestors. The finding offers new insight into ancient ecosystems and the environmental pressures that shaped human evolution.

Caglar Koylu, associate professor in the UI School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability, brings expertise on cartography and user interactions to the team in order to ensure everyone from researchers to members of the public can understand the tool and learn what they need to from it.

The new program takes an interdisciplinary approach to solving environmental challenges.